Germany finally keep clean sheet in win over Hungary

Reuters

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GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Germany kept their first clean sheet for nearly a year as they coasted to a 2-0 win over fellow Euro 2016 finalists Hungary on Saturday in the final warm-up friendly for both teams.

There was more encouragement for home coach Joachim Loew when midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger came on in the second half for his first match since suffering a knee injury in March.

An own goal by Adam Lang and a Thomas Mueller header gave the world champions victory against a disappointing Hungary who barely troubled Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and struggled to get out of their own half.

Germany, who slumped to a 3-1 home defeat by Slovakia one week ago and had lost three of their previous four games, last kept a clean sheet in a 7-0 win over Gibraltar in a Euro qualifier, a run of eight matches.

"I think we can be satisfied. We played better than recently and the whole team helped to defend," said defender Jerome Boateng.

Defensive duo Benedikt Hoewedes and Antonio Rudiger and forwards Julian Draxler and Mario Goetze were among the players given a chance to stake a place in the team at this month's finals in France.

Germany went ahead six minutes before halftime when Draxler released Jonas Hector on an overlapping run and his ball across the goal was turned into the net.

Goetze, who had an unhappy season with Bayern Munich after being injured and then finding it tough to get in the side, initially seemed to be the scorer but replays showed the ball had gone in off his marker Lang.

Mueller grabbed his 32nd international goal when he headed in from a rebound after Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly could only parry Mario Gomez's header.